Bargaining impasse delays harvest of sugar on Kaua'i

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Gay & Robinson, Kaua'i's only remaining sugar plantation, has hit a roadblock in negotiations with former sugar business powerhouse Amfac/JMB that will delay the start of its harvesting season.

A primary obstacle deals with the use of Amfac's bulk sugar terminal at Nawiliwili Harbor, said G&R president Alan Kennett.

The terminal was once used by the island's several plantations. Since Amfac went out of the sugar business at its Lihu'e and Kekaha plantations last year, G&R's sugar would be the only product passing through it.

The terminal includes a large sugar warehouse and conveyer systems that carry the raw sugar to ships in the harbor.

Without an agreement and access to the terminal, G&R can't get its sugar onto ships that carry it to the California refinery.

The plantation had scheduled harvesting and processing of sugarcane to begin tomorrow, but has informed employees it will not be offering work except for essential tasks, Kennett said.

"Our negotiations with Amfac are at an impasse," he said, adding that the west Kaua'i sugar plantation cannot begin harvesting and grinding cane until several key issues are resolved.

Kennett said Amfac and his plantation have also failed to reach agreement on G&R's proposal to provide its excess bagasse to Amfac as fuel for its Lihu'e Mill power plant.

He said that a lesser issue is G&R's effort to acquire certain equipment from Amfac, and to reach an agreement that would allow G&R to use the old Kekaha Mill and garage.

Kennett is negotiating with the state to lease some of the sugar lands farmed by Kekaha Sugar Co. before it closed operations, and hopes to use former Kekaha equipment and facilities to assist in the handling of the cane.